Greece in the fascist "New Order"

After the occupation of Athens by the German troops (21 April 1941), the Nazi regime had established a new government of its own choice under Tsolakoglou. Additionally, it had already started the process of Greece's territorial dismemberment by granting territories to pro-Axis neighbouring countries.

Given Mussolini's desperate desire to retain Greece under near-exclusive Italian control, German occupation was limited to a number of strategic locations, such as Salonica and Crete. Italy acquired control of central and southern mainland Greece, along with the islands of the Aegean, while Bulgaria was granted the territories of eastern Macedonia and western Thrace, as determined in the 1941 German-Bulgarian pact.

No resistance was put up by the Tsolakoglou government, which on the contrary accused the British for allegedly having involved the country in an unnecessary war only to abandon it at the most crucial moment.